Steel casting machine



Dec. 9, 1969 J. WODL ETAL 3,482,710

' I STEEL'CASTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 14. 1967 F/G./ I

INVENTORS JoHANN W'pL BY Feouwnw B N TIIEIR 14Frauen/Eff;

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 United States Patent "ice 3,482,710 STEEL CASTINGMACHINE Johann Wodl and Frohwald Berdan, Vienna, Austria, as-

signors to Vereinigte Osterreichische Eisenund StahlwerkeAktiengesellschaft, Linz, Austria, a company of Austria Filed Dec. 14,1967, Ser. No. 690,583 Claims priority, application Austria, Dec. 21,1966, A 11,723/66 Int. Cl. B66c 19/00 US. Cl. 212130 6 Claims ABSTRACTOF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for carrying a ladle for pouring steel intomolds is described. A H-shaped gantry has a pair of horizontal girdersextending from the upper ends of the vertical legs and a trolley havinga U-shaped configuration moves along the girders, the open side of the Ufacing the open upper end of the gantry. The trolley carries a pair ofdownwardly extending guide columns which hold a support for the ladle.The aligned open ends of the trolley and the gantry permit unhamperedinsertion of the ladle into the support.

The invention relates to a steel casting machine for pouring steel frombottom-tap casting ladles which are provided with stoppers, into moulds.

The usual casting work in steel making plants is at present carried outin such a way that several casting cranes travelling, in general, alonga common craneway and carrying casting ladles are steered over mouldsarranged in a row. In doing that, it often happens that one castingcrane is hampered by another. A further disadvantage of the knownworking method resides in that the casting ladle does not standsufficiently steady during casting since the suspension on ropes causesoscillations. Naturally, a crane cannot, with such working methods, beutilized to satisfaction.

The steel casting machine of the invention avoids these disadvantagesand difiiculties. It is characterised by an H-shaped full or half gantryconstruction travelling on rails and a trolley travelling on the bridgegirders of said construction and comprising a trolley frame, guidecolumns and a supporting device for the casting ladle, which is mountedto be vertically displaceable along said guide columns, saidtrolley-frame being U-shaped to enable insertion of a casting ladle.

Due to the H-shaped design of the gantry construction, a ladle carriedalong by the crane need, during entering and setting down, be liftedonly to the level of the transverse beam of the H-shaped construction.The trolley frame is U-shaped, also with regard to an easy andunhampered entering of a ladle.

The supporting device for the casting ladle is suitably designed as aclosed frame having stanchion blocks for receiving the ladle trunnions.The ladle frame may be made of two pairs of like beams, the front one ofsaid beams, as viewed in the direction of entry of the stopperladle,being vertically staggered relative to the rear beam. The ladle frame issuitably guided on the guide columns by means of hinged arms, preferablywith the aid of slide rails or rollers. According to a furthercharacteristic of the invention, the ladle frame is liftand lowerablysuspended on the guide columns in such a way that the suspension pointslie below the bridge girders, and are in vertical alignment with therails of the trolley.

The subject-matter of invention is illustrated in more detail in thedrawing by way of an embodiment. FIG. 1 shows a lateral view of a steelcasting machine comprising a half gantry construction; FIG. 2 is a topview; FIG.

3,482,710 Patented Dec. 9, 1969 3 shows a vertical sectional view alongline III-HI in FIG. 1; and FIG. 4 is a top view onto the device forsupporting a casting ladle.

Numeral 1 in the drawings denotes a half gantry construction movablyarranged on rails 2 and 2. The transverse beam 3 of the H-shapedconstruction is outlined in broken lines. The bridge girders 4 of thegantry construction are suitably designed as closed box-type sections,as evident from FIG. 3. A trolley 5 having a U-frame is movably arrangedon the two bridge girders 4 of the gantry construction and rigidlyconnected to the guide columns 6. A frame-shaped construction 7 forreceiving a stopper-ladle is suspended on the guide columns 6. Thesuspension points 8 and 8 lie below the bridge girder 4 and in verticalalignment with the wheels 9 of the trolley frame 5.

The frame construction 7 is adapted to be lifted and lowered by means ofhydraulic cylinders 10. Instead of this hydraulic device, a rope haul oranother commonly used lifting device might obviously be employed.

The design of the receiving device for the ladle is evident in moredetail from FIGS. 1 and 4. It is designed as a closed frame comprising apair of longitudinal beams 11, 12, and a pair of transverse beams 13 and14 as well as further transverse beams 15, 16 and cross pieces 17. Thestanchion blocks for the ladle trunnions are designated by 18.

As evident from FIG. 1, beam 12 is vertically transposed relative tobeam 11. It lies at the level of the transverse beam 3 of the H-shapedconstruction so that the ladle 19, which is shown in broken linessuspended on the crane, can be deposited on the ladle frame withoutlifting or with only a very small lifting movement.

The ladle frame is guided on the guide columns 6 by means of articulatedarms 20 in order to avoid any oscillations of the stopper-ladle.Guidance can be accomplished by means of slide rails or, as shown inFIG. 3, by means of rollers 21 and rails 22. The arms 20 and the ladleframe 7 are hingedly connected by means of bolts in order to avoid anyclamping forces caused by nonuniform lifting or lowering.

In order to achieve an increased stability of the machine, supportingrollers 23 are provided on the guide columns 6, said rollers running onrails arranged on the underside of the bridge girders 4.

The steel casting machine of the invention functions in such a way thata number of moulds are arranged in a row between the rails of the gantryconstruction so that the machine can travel along above the moulds. Bymeans of the crane shown in broken lines, a stopper-ladle 19 is theninsertedin the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1at such a level that itjust passes above the transverse beam 3. As the frame of the trolley 5is U-shaped, as described, entering is not hampered by the upper part ofthe construction. The stopper-ladle need thus not be lifted to or beyondthe level of the trolley frame and lowered again. The describedvertically staggered arrangement of the beam 12 in relation to the beam11 also facilitates entering of the stopper-ladle. It can be placedsquarely upon the ladle frame without any difliculties, the stanchionblocks supporting the ladle trunnions holding it in position. The cranemay now be moved away and employed for other work. Casting itself iscarried out without crane, the necessary motions, in particularcorrective motions of the stopper-ladle perpendicularly of the gantryrails, as may be necessary in serving the moulds, being effected by acorresponding movement of the trolley frame, upward or downward motionsof the stopper-ladle being rendered possible by the suspension on theguide columns. The machine of the invention enables the consecutivefilling of moulds of different sizes placed in arbitrary sequence.Essential advantages in comparison with present casting methods are thusachieved with regard to the casting speed as well as with regard to thebetter utilization of the avail? able cranes.

What We claim is:

1. A steel casting machine for pouring steel from a stopper ladle,comprising a gantry travelling on rails and having a pair of verticallegs connected by a transverse beam located a distance below the upperends of said legs, said legs and beam forming a substantially H-shapedgantry construction, a horizontal bridge girder connected to the upperend of each of said legs, and a U-shaped trolley movably mounted on saidbridge girders and comprising a trolley frame, guide columns extendingsubstantially vertically downward from said trolley frame and asupporting device for said stopper ladle arranged to be verticallydisplaceable along said guide columns, said H- shaped gantry andU-shaped trolley providing an open end to permit the unhamperedinsertion of said stopper ladle.

2. A steel casting machine as set forth in claim 1, wherein thesupporting device for said stopper ladle is a closed, frame constructionhaving stanchion blocks for receiving the ladle trunnions.

3. A steel casting machine for pouring steel from stopper ladles,comprising a gantry travelling on rails and having a pair of verticallegs connected by a transverse beam located a distance below the upperends of said legs, said legs and beam forming a substantially H-shapedgantry construction, a horizontal bridge girder connected to the upperend of each of said legs, and a trolley movably mounted on said bridgegirders and comprising a trolley frame open on one end in U-fashion toenable entry of a stopper ladle and having wheels for engagement withcorresponding rails atop of said bridge girders, guide columns extendingsubstantially vertically downward from said trolley frame, and asupporting device for said stopper ladle arranged to be verticallydisplaceable along said guide columns, said supporting device comprisinga rectangular frame including front and rear beams which are verticallystaggered in the direction of entry of said stopper ladle.

4. A steel casting machine as set forth in claim 3, wherein saidsupporting device is guided on said guide columns by means of armshinged to said rectangular frame and having means for displaceableengagement with said guide columns.

5. A steel casting machine according to claim 3, where in lifting andlowering means for vertical displacement of said supporting device alongsaid guide columns are connected with one end on said rectangular frameand with another end on said guide columns, the points of connectionlying below said bridge girders and in vertical alignment with saidwheels of said trolley frame.

6. A steel casting machine as set forth in claim 3, wherein supportingrollers are provided on said guide columns for bracing said columnsagainst said bridge girders.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS HARVEY C. HORNSBY, PrimaryExaminer U. S. Cl. X.R.

